by Alex Evans | Jan 10, 2008 | Global system
The latest report of the Global Risks Network at the World Economic Forum is just out – here it is if you fancy a look. The report begins with the words:
Over the last year, a series of risk issues – from the liquidity crisis in the financial markets to the emerging concerns over the long-term security of food supply – have focused global attention on the fragility of the global system.
So it is a pleasant irony indeed that one of the sponsors of the report is none other than – Citigroup!
Nor does the irony stop there. Last time the Global Risks Network met in London, on 10 July, the participants (of whom David and I were two) were treated to a quite fantastically complicated presentation by two Citigroup staff – the gist of which was “innovative financial instruments are great because they reduce risk in the global financial system”.
Who knew? And it gets better still.
For as you’ll all recall, 10 July is of course the very same day that then-CEO of Citigroup Chuck Prince made his infamous comment in the FT that
When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated. But as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still dancing.
Oh dear. A couple of us did ask the Citi staff at the time how their sophisticated presentation on risk management squared with their boss’s snappy dance moves; but hey, benefit of hindsight and all that. As the introduction to the WEF report continues,
Under conditions of global stress, one core questions of global risk management will become more salient than ever: who owns the risk?
How true, how true – and never more so than in the case of all those pesky CDOs that Mr Prince has left us with. Anyway, the report is excellent, and well worth a look.
by Mark Weston | Jan 10, 2008 | Off topic
A Dutch company has taken steps to address my complaint about the ugliness of Israel’s West Bank wall. You pay the firm 30 Euros and it pays a Palestinian to spray a message on the wall. Paper-free greeting cards, anyone?
by David Steven | Jan 9, 2008 | North America
While you’re all focused on the important political issues – Clinton/Obama; McCain/Huckabee/Romney – I have continued to enjoy the Ron Paul insurgency, which now appears to be entering its final phase.
Paul, you will remember, built a fanatic online following, raised oodles of money (over $6m in just one day), but failed to build much real world support (8% in New Hampshire, just behind Rudy Giuliani).
Now the New Republic has really put the boot in with a devastating article on the skeletons in Paul’s (seemingly capacious) closet. Sample extract from an eight-page Paul fund raising letter sent out during the presidency of Bush-the-elder:
I have unmasked the plot for world government, world money, and world central banking. Planned exchange controls to hold you hostage…while the dollar drops down a hole…
I revealed the Red debt bomb set to explode in your bank account…The real, financial reasons Bush invaded Panama. The nightmare of a ‘cashless society’ (watch out for it, if they get away with the New Money)…
I’ve been told not to talk, but these stooges don’t scare me. Threats or not threats, I’ve laid bare the coming race war in our big cities. The federal-homosexual cover-up on AIDS (my training as a physician helps me see through this one.)
The Bohemian Grove – perverted, pagan playground of the powerful Skull & Bones: the demonic fraternity that includes George Bush and leftist Senator John Kerry, Congress’s Mr New Money. The Israeli lobby, which plays Congress like a cheap harmonica. And the Soviet-style ‘smartcard’ the Justice Department has in mind for you.
Paul’s reaction? He didn’t write any of the offending letters or newsletters, but takes “moral responsibility for not paying closer attention to what went out under my name.”
Lew Rockwell, a key Paul supporter, has an even-more amusing take. Paul’s opponents are now ‘scared and desperate’:
I think that what people should take from this is the obvious: this story appeared at this point and time, using this very “hot” theme, because the old media establishment that tries its best to support the Washington DC political establishment is darn near spooked by the power wielded by a bunch of grassroots Moms, Dads, college kids, Grandmas, and blue-collar Joes who have had enough of the current system and its choke hold on their ability to live their lives unencumbered.
Freedom has gained some popularity in the heartland and in the home, thanks to Dr. Paul, and that won’t be tolerated by the controlling bastards in power or the inconsequential media hacks like Kirchick and the New Republic.
Of course, there’s a small grain of truth in what Rockwell says. The ‘controlling bastards’ probably have got what matters to them most. A near-certainty that Paul won’t now run as an independent, siphoning off a small, but potentially critical, protest vote…
by Alex Evans | Jan 9, 2008 | Climate and resource scarcity, Influence and networks
David and I have an article on the Guardian’s Comment is Free site this morning. Here’s a taster:
As we move from discussing the problem of climate change to discussing the solution to it, new sceptics are going to start coming out of the woodwork. Some of them may even be morons or Exxon lobbyists. But the majority will be people who are simply coming to the issue afresh, have some doubts, and need to be won over.
Treating these people as heretics is a monumental free gift to insurgents in the climate debate who really do want to block any serious action on the issue – because it allows them to portray themselves as David, and the Climate Establishment as Goliath.
Being cast as Goliath is fine if your strategy is based on demonstrating that you have overwhelming force and that you can force your audience to do what you want if they don’t play ball. But it is a very bad position to be in when – as with climate change – success depends on winning hearts and minds.
by Alex Evans | Jan 9, 2008 | Europe and Central Asia, Influence and networks
Gordon Brown’s new year relaunch has met with generally sullen reaction from the media, who seem less than enchanted with his rather dry emphasis on long-termism. By contrast, says Daily Mail political editor Benedict Brogan, look over the Channel to Nicolas Sarkozy.
Despite reports of a backlash in France over coverage of Le President having the time of his life with Carla Bruni in Egypt (e.g. see Blake’s write-up at ForeignPolicy.com), Sarkozy was reportedly on defiant and sparkling form at his start-the-year press conference – and clearly enjoying himself (though presumably not as much as at his debut press conference at the Russian G8 in 2006).
Brogan suggests that new No 10 strategy head Stephen Carter should get Brown to watch the replay for some snappy soundbites like these:
“Being president does not give you a right to happiness.”
“I forbid myself to think about a second term.”
“When there’s a mistake, I pay, and I pay cash.”
“If I were worried I wouldn’t be president. Frankly, it’s not a job for worriers.”
“I’m sincere in my words every minute.”
“You can read authenticity on my face. I don’t cheat, I don’t trick, in 30 years you’ve never caught me with my finger in the jam jar of lies.”
Brogan continues,
[Sarkozy] was particularly scathing about the culture of secrecy that surrounded the private life of his predecessors, and how the media – his audience – knew all about the affairs and scandals but never asked and never reported. “I want to break the deplorable tradition of hypocrisy and lies. You never asked my predecessors even though you knew about it. If you don’t want a media circus, then don’t send photographers to follow me to Egypt. I’ll still have a great holiday.”
He also denied he was the illegitimate son of Jacques Chirac.
